A Long Ride Home
by Winfan2
Summary: Dean is responsible for keep an eye on Sean who wanders just a bit too far. Yes there will be spanking, but also bonding. Sean is 11 and Dean 26.


**A Long Ride Home**

Dean sighed as he weighed his options; neither being what he would call great. John and Sam were off hunting an ogre or some such thing, Dean wasn't even sure; he had quit listening as soon as his father had chosen his younger brother over him to accompany John on the hunt. Now he was stuck babysitting his youngest brother, Sean who often rendered everyone around him, exhausted with his antics. Sean was eleven and full of the wit and wisdom only a preteen could employ. He still believed a big toothy grin could get him out of any trouble he found, even though the past had clearly declared otherwise.

Dean needed to drive two hours west to speak with a man about diary full of counter curses. He needed to see the diary in order to make his own diagrams and faxing or emailing just wasn't an option. He hated hauling Sean with him and dealing with the busy, but easily bored youngster. But leaving him unsupervised for over four hours what out of the question. So it appeared the decision was made despite the complaints emanating from the pint sized Winchester.

"I'll be fine, I'll just hang out here in the motel room and watch TV," Sean stated.

"Right, do I look that gullible?" Dean asked. Sean's eyebrows arched. "Don't answer that," Dean stated. "Get in the car."

The ride there was bearable due to Sean's hour long nap, but once they arrived he ran out of the car as if he had been shot out of a cannon.

"Hey," Dean yelled barely slowing the boy down.

Sean ran around a tree that stood in the middle of the yard and then came roaring back towards Dean.

"You're like a dog," the elder Winchester commented as Mark Lowell came down the front porch steps and walked towards them.

"Yeah, but I feel a lot better," Sean said causing Dean to shake his head.

"Got a live one there," Mark said as he strode up to the Winchesters.

"Yeah, little brothers," Dean commented.

"Thought Sammy would be a little older by now." Mark said eyeing Sean.

Dean chuckled, "he is, this is Sean, my youngest brother. Sam is with our Dad on a hunt, making me in charge of this hyperactive monster."

"I see, well Sean, I have a great idea. You can wear out my dog Tippy; she has as much energy as you do." Mark said heading back to the house. He opened up the storm door and released a black and white Border Collie who raced around the yard much like Sean has only minutes before.

"She'll play ball, Frisbee, whatever you want. Her toys are there on the edge of the porch," Mark pointed out.

Sean immediately took off towards the pile of toys and raced out to the large front yard with Tippy barking in excitement at the realization of the good times to come.

"Listen Sean, you stay in the yard, if I look out the window, I want to be able to see you," Dean said, his finger pointing at the preteen.

"Yes, listen to Dean, and stay out of the woods, they're easy to get lost in," Mark said, acting as if he had wanted to say more.

The two Winchester's waited, but nothing further was revealed. "Stay where I can see you," Dean warned one more time.

"Kay," Sean said as threw the Frisbee as far as he could.

Dean and Mark got to work, going through the diary page by page with Dean copying down pertinent information. Every time he had checked on Sean the boy and the dog were busy occupying each other with tennis balls and flying discs. The dog was very good at catching whatever was flung in her direction.

Finally they hit the last page and as Dean carefully copied down the symbol that accompanied the counter curse, Mark got up in response to Tippy whining. "Hey girl, where's Sean?" he asked looking at the abandoned yard.

Dean shot up looked outside to see that Sean was no longer in the yard. "Maybe he's in the car," Mark suggested.

"Unlikely," Dean answered barreling through the front door. "Sean," Dean screamed.

"Where is he Tippy?" Mark asked. The dog jogged to the edge of the woods where she laid down and whined. "Dammit, he went into the woods. I told him not to!" Mark yelled.

Dean took a step towards the trees when Marked stopped him. "No, you can't go in there."

"What are you talking about? My brother's in there, I have to get him."

"I didn't tell you everything about the woods," Mark admitted.

"What do you mean!?" Dean demanded.

"They hold a lot of history—''

Sean had been tossing the ball to the dog when he threw it a bit harder than he intended and the yellow tennis ball rolled past the tree line. He stepped inside the woods and quickly found the ball, but when he turned to leave it seemed as if the yard had disappeared. Everywhere he turned there were trees and brush, it was as if the woods had swallowed him.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Dean asked Mark.

"I was afraid if I did, it would make Sean want to go into the woods that much more." Mark stated.

"How much danger is he in?"

"We need to find him, but we have to be smart about it. Once when I was around Sean's age and my brother was thirteen, he dared me to go into the woods. When I did it was as if I was instantly lost, I thought I had gotten turned around, but it was much more sinister."

"How?" Dean asked, beginning to panic.

"I felt as if the trees were closing in on me and as if there was a feeling of desperation around me."

"How did you get out?" Dean yelled.

"My dad had some kind of spell and it seemed to open up a path for me. I found my way out, my father had never been more angry with my brother and me. He made us grab two switches from that tree over there," Mark said pointing to the lone tree in the yard. "I've never been back in those woods, and my brother moved out as soon as he was eighteen."

"Thanks for the family history, but we I don't want to hear about your family drama right now, I just want my brother back."

"Stay here, I'll grab my father's journal, I'm sure he wrote about that day," Mark said taking off. "And Dean, don't go into the woods before I get back!"

Dean watched Mark run back to the house. He knew he might only make matters worse by going into the woods, but he couldn't stand just waiting around. He glanced over at the tree that held a plethora of skinny branches and assured himself that one of those branches would be put to get use very soon.

Dean stepped into the woods and began to call out for his youngest brother. His emotions were all jumbled up, anger and then fear, flipping around to be fear then anger. He had to find Sean; he couldn't let anything happen to him. He immediately felt as if the trees had moved closer to the path he was on, as if they wanted to get as near as possible. He probably should have found out what had happened in these woods, but in his impatience hadn't allowed him to. He just wanted to grab Sean and run.

Sean looked up, but found he couldn't even see the sky anymore. It seemed very dark where he was and he knew it couldn't possibly be night yet. He really wanted to get back out of the woods before Dean discovered that he was missing. He knew his brother would be pissed that he hadn't listened to him and stayed in sight.

"Sean!" Dean screamed. "Where are you?"

Sean thought he had heard something and began to move that direction, but he couldn't see anything besides tree trunks and limbs. He knew if he got out of this Dean would most definitely have his ass. But at the moment, he would gladly take it.

Dean continued to yell out Sean's name and was finding it harder and harder to move around as he was constantly being tripped up by massive tree roots. One sent him reeling and as he put out his hands to protect him he ended up grabbing onto Sean.

"Dean," Sean gasped. "Are you okay?"

Dean pulled himself up; the only thing ailing him was his pride. "Yes, and you?"

"Yeah, just want out of here," Sean said quietly.

"I told you to stay in the yard."

"I know, but the ball rolled just past the trees, I was just going to get, but I couldn't find my way out," Sean explained.

"Yeah, well, apparently our host failed to fill us in on the entire story of these woods. But you, young man should have still listened, Mark explicitly told you to stay out and that means you stay out!"

"Yeah, I get that now. I just don't understand how I got so turned around. It's like the trees just keep getting closer."

"Yeah, I know. Just hang on to me, don't let go," Dean warned. Suddenly they could hear Mark's voice calling out to them. "This way," Dean said towing his baby brother behind him.

They followed the sweet sound of Mark's voice until they finally saw a break in the trees. "There," Sean said letting go of Dean's shirt and pointing.

"I said don't let go and I meant it," Dean said grabbing Sean's hand.

"Sorry, sheesh," Sean replied.

Finally the two Winchesters breeched the tree line and back into the bright sunshine. Dean breathed a sigh of relief while Sean bent down to pet the dog who was jumping up in sheer delight at the reunion.

"The dog is happy to see you again," Mark said.

"I love animals, but Dad says being on the road won't allow us to have a pet." Sean replied sadly.

"So you want to spill the beans about the woods," Dean said, his face stern.

"Look, when I was a kid, my dad had always warned us to stay out of the woods, but of course without a specific reason we did what comes naturally; push the limits. Like I said my brother dared me to go into the woods and I did. I guess I was gone for quite a while when my brother began to panic. He was ready to step into the woods when my father grabbed him. He demanded to know what was going on and Steven told him what had happened. My father went to that diary we just got done looking at and read this counter curse. It seemed to loosen the grip the forest had on me and I was able to find my way out. I was only about ten yards inside the tree line."

"So why are the trees so angry?" Dean asked.

"Back in the day, the underground railroad ran through here. The runaway slaves used the cover of the trees to make their escape. But one day, a group had been caught, the bounty hunters had dogs that tracked them down and, well it ended very ugly. It's said that the spirits of those slaves that refused to go down without a fight are still in these woods. The trees seem to envelope you just as the bounty hunters did to those slaves. They took their freedom away and that's what the trees do to you. Thirty years ago several prisoners escaped during a transport, they ran into the woods and were never seen again."

"That would have been helpful to know, before I went after the tennis ball," Sean said.

"I told you not to go into the woods, that should have been good enough,' Mark said realizing he sounded just like his father had all those years ago.

"I didn't want to lose the ball," Sean admitted.

"We go through tons of tennis balls, Tippy won't go into the woods for any reason."

"I guess that explains her reaction when I tried to get her to come with me."

Dean just stood there quietly before clearing his throat. "Mark's right, I told you to stay in the yard, where you could be seen and he specifically told you to stay out of the woods, it doesn't matter what the story behind it is; you disobeyed a direct order."

"Sorry," Sean whispered kicking up some dirt with his sneaker.

Dean looked over at the tree that had held Mark's punishment so long ago and knew what he had to do. John had drilled it in their heads that disobeying an order no matter how big or small held some serious consequences, consequences that he was going to have to dish out.

"See that tree over there," Dean pointed out.

Sean's head spun around and easily found the lone tree in the large yard. "The one with all the skinny branches?"

"Yes, that one," Dean confirmed. "Go pick out a switch."

Sean looked back and forth from Dean to the tree with a quick peek at Mark. "You want me to go rip a branch off that tree?" he asked in disbelief.

"That's exactly what I want you to do," Dean replied.

"But—but you aren't supposed to spank me with anything but your hand unless Dad says it's okay," Sean argued.

"I think he'll back me up on this."

Sean looked over at Mark hoping perhaps he would step in and stop this madness. But the man was no hope whatsoever as he just stood there with his arms folded his face stoic. Sean once more looked back at the tree as if he had hoped it had somehow uprooted and taken off.

"Go!" Dean said pointing towards the tree for emphasis.

Sean slowly turned his body around and began the slow walk to the tree. He hung his head and studied his dirty sneakers as he made his way to the tree. Once there he took his time studying each branch in front of him as if one would be gentler than another. He knew both of his big brothers had been the victim of the dreaded switch and they had both grumbled about its bite. Thus far in his tender years John had used the paddle on him twice and he had also received a few whacks with the belt just a month before as a reminder that it wasn't a wise idea to back talk to his father. But this, this was beyond his wildest dreams; first of all Dean was going to use a switch, a skinny, butt biting stick and second of all it was Dean—his brother, his confidante, his buddy. This was so not right.

He finally made a selection, appreciative that Dean had let him take his sweet time in doing so. He shuffled back towards the two men who had been talking quietly. "Maybe we can break the curse, put those poor slaves at rest, and give them peace." Dean had said.

"They're fine," Sean said as he arrived. "They let go of this life, but the trees—the trees never forgot. They hate what they saw."

"Can we do anything?" Mark asked.

"Keep people out the woods," Sean advised.

"I'll do my best," he said with a nod. "I'll leave you to it. Dean, it was good seeing you again and Sean," he said sticking his hand out, "it was nice to meet you. I'm sorry the visit had to end like this."

"Me too, but at least Tippy had fun."

"She did, more fun than she's had in a long time," Mark said with a genuine smile. He let go of Sean's hand and called the dog to follow him inside.

Dean watched Mark and his companion disappear into the house before he turned to his wayward brother. "I hate this you know."

"I know."

"But I have a responsibility to you, to Dad. I'm supposed to take care of you, keep you safe and that almost didn't happen today. You didn't listen and I can't let that slide."

"I know," Sean repeated.

"Well hand it over," Dean said holding his hand out for the chosen stick.

"Do we have to do it now? I mean can't we wait until we get back to the motel?"

"No, Dad doesn't wait, and neither will I. You do wrong; you get nailed for it as soon as possible, drives the message home real quick."

"But it's a long ride home and you won't let me lay down in the back," Sean argued.

"You can't wear a seatbelt lying down and you're right it is a long drive, you should have thought of that before you tiptoed into the trees."

"Won't Dad be mad that you didn't call him before doing this?" Sean asked, clearly stalling.

"I'm sure he won't be happy, but I don't believe it will be me he is mad at." Sean just toed the dirt and tried to look contrite. "Let's do this then." Dean said stripping the last remaining leaves off the slender branch.

"How, the car is too hot for me to lean against and it's not fair for Mark if we do it in the house." Sean tried.

"No problem," Dean answered while opening the back door of the Impala. He set his foot on the edge of the car next to the back seat. He grasped the slim offering, feeling the rough edge where Sean had ripped it from its moorings. This was the first time he had been on this end of the deal and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. As he rolled the branch in his hand he suddenly had more respect for John. It's not that he hadn't spanked Sean before, in fact it wasn't all that uncommon, but not like this, never like this. The stakes were high, Sean could have been hurt or worse and he deserved this punishment. But this was beyond the typical smack Dean would have administered for being late or bratty, this was a big deal and he suddenly wasn't sure if he was up to it. Maybe he should just wait and fill John in on Sean's antics when he returned.

"Can we get it over with?" Sean asked, pulling Dean out of this thought process.

Dean cleared his throat and croaked out, "yeah."

"How many?" Sean asked looking up at his brother's face. "Dad always tells me how many."

Dean squinted in the bright sunlight unsure of his answer. "Six," he said, gripping the switch.

"Kay," Sean whispered.

Dean leaned his baby brother against his raised knee. Once Sean was settled, Dean raised his arm and began. The first blow caused Sean to inhale loudly. He had just been introduced to the powerful bite that was the very essence of the king of sting. Dean followed the first blow by laying down three more relatively quickly. Sean responded by trying to push away from him, tears flowing, voice angry.

"Stop it," Sean cried out.

"Two more kiddo," Dean said. "Just two more."

"No, please." He begged.

"Stop fighting little brother, almost done." Dean then quickly landed the switch twice more across the center of Sean's ridiculously small target. He then dropped the branch and pulled Sean towards him, but the preteen fought him.

"No, leave me alone," he cried pushing Dean away.

"Nope, you know that you get a mandatory hug after your punishment, no matter if it's me, Sam or Dad. But Sean continued to fight. "Look kid, we can pick up where we left off if you'd prefer."

With that Sean stopped struggling and melted into his brother's arms sobbing. Dean held him for several minutes before Sean came up for air. "I'm sorry," the youngest Winchester sniffed.

"Me too kiddo."

"It hurts so much."

"It's supposed to." Dean answered and then went on to retell Mark's story about his brother's dare and his father's punishment.

"So it works then?" Sean asked.

"What do you think?"

"I think so."

"Good to hear," Dean said stepping back away from the car. "How about we go home now?"

Sean tenderly touched his backside and grimaced. "But it's such a long ride home," he whined.

"Well we had better get started then."

"I don't think I can," Sean answered, his face scrunched up.

Dean sighed and went down on one knee bringing himself down to Sean's level. "I remember when I was about your age and I went through something similar. I had to ride in the car for over three hours before we stopped for the night. But I made it and you will too."

"What did you do?" Sean asked looking at Dean.

Dean remained quiet, contemplating whether or not he should tell his story. "The town where we were at the time was having a Fourth of July picnic and I had been invited to attend by a pretty girl. I of course took her up on her offer except that Dad had said we were going to leave as soon as he got back from a supply run. Sam was staying at Pastor Jim's at the time so I decided to take a chance and meet her for a few minutes before I had to get back."

"But—''

"But, she was so happy to see me, insisted we share a glass of lemonade and a hotdog…I mean how could I say no."

"And you didn't I'm guessing."

"I was at the park for over an hour. By the time I got back, Dad was furious. He demanded an explanation, and mine wasn't close to good enough. There was a tree much like that one," Dean said pointing towards the lone tree in the yard, "he told me to go get a switch." Dean looked down at the ground much like Sean had earlier. "Anyway, I know what it's like," Dean finished standing up. "Dad drove only three hours of the eight that he had originally intended, figuring I had suffered enough. But it put us way behind and I felt guilty about holding up his progress."

"You were just being a kid," Sean offered.

"Yep, just like you were. But Sean, we can't just be kids, our actions can affect a whole lot more than our little world. I caused Dad to show up to a hunt a day late and you, well you could have been lost or maybe even woke up some dormant evil that had been left alone for years. Sean, our world is complicated and by doing what we're not supposed to, we can make it even worse. Do you understand?"

Sean nodded. "But it's so hard sometimes."

"I know it is kid, believe me I know." Dean said draping his arm over Sean's shoulders. "Now let's get started on that long ride home."


End file.
